


A very Krumpy Christmas

by orphan_account



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Bog/Dawn BrOTP, Christmas AU, F/M, Krampus! Bog, Santa! Marianne
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:18:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5413112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bog is Krampus, the King is Santa, Sunny is one of Santa’s head elves, Marianne and Dawn are Santa’s kids.<br/>Similar storyline but filled with Christmas nonsense, BrOTP and Potionless. And Butterfly Bog of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abutterflyobsession](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abutterflyobsession/gifts).



> Secret Santa gift for the kindhearted, talented, much-loved and wondrous writer abutterflyobsession!!! 
> 
> Ever heard of a Christmas story with an awkward, dorky, love-struck Krampus, and a Santa in training that's a woman?  
> Yeah, me neither. Merry holidays!

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a cheerful, chubby little old man by the name of Santa Claus that lived in the land of the North Pole. Below him, in a land a bit further away, ruled his fearsome, devilish horned helper and the king of the Underworld: the Christmas punisher Krampus. 

But his mama and Santa call him Bog as a term of endearment. Just to be clear, the horns are a myth because he never inherited them.

Now, we all know Santa’s job is to bring joy and presents to the well-behaved around the world for the holiday season-- and also help boost the economy thanks to his influence in the international toy companies, where he employs hundreds of hard-working elves from around the globe to cope with the over-commercialized holiday. 

Oh wait,  you’ve heard of all this? Well then I won’t bore you and let’s get back to Kra- I mean Bog. 

His hobbies include dramatic hard core rock and roll entrances into the houses of naughty children, kidnapping and stuffing them into his trusty burlap sack, and intimidating people with his set of birch branches in the form of a staff, melded at the very top by some scintillating  pine amber as old as his partnership with dear old Santa.

As ruler of the Underworld and head in charge of the ‘naughty’ list during the holidays, he and Santa always had a very close relationship. Distant perhaps, but still essential to maintain _Yuletide_. However, many years ago, that all changed when Kr- I mean Bog, rose from his Underworld on a midsummer's night with a full moon and payed a visit to his old friend St. Nick. Santa was overjoyed to receive such a surprise, but his joy was soon replaced with fear at the sight of the fire in Bog’s eyes, followed by an inexplicable display of rage in the main toy factory. Blinded by anger, he destroyed everything in his wake as he terrorized the elves and threatened to create even more chaos if his wishes were not granted

That tragic day proved to all throughout the world what they had long feared of Krampus. That he was truly and undeniably- **_evil_**. 

After many pleas from Santa and mountains of broken toys sprawled throughout the factory, jeopardizing the Christmas timetable for that entire year, he agreed to put an end to his sudden rampage, return to his land, and continue with his share of the Christmas tradition. The sole condition was that the Sugar Plum Fairy, the queen of the Land of the Sweets and highest magical authority in the magical land above Earth, be imprisoned. Seeing that Christmas was at stake, Santa was forced to agree.

Upon Krampus' return to his kingdom with his newest captive, he also outlawed the plucking of the much coveted Winter primroses that grew on the edge of the portal connecting the Underworld with the North Pole. 

The reasons behind these actions were unknown at the time and continued to be so for centuries. Many legends arose over the matter but here's what really occurred and, more importantly, what happened when the rules were broken. 


	2. Deck the halls with boughs of mischief, Fa-la-la-la-la...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt used as inspiration: Person A arrives home after a long day at work, and much to their surprise (and horror), Person B is covered head to toe in a sleeping bag and is now scooting down the hallway towards them at an alarming rate. There is no escape. 
> 
> (Had to change it a little to suit the story line.)

It was a quiet day at the North Pole. The elves busied themselves with their usual chores and hectic schedules that begin in the middle of June. _One can never prepare for Christmas too early after all!_ That's what Santa would always say at least...especially when his daughter would ask to 'tone it down,dad'. The cheery "Ho-ho-ho"s he would forcibly reply indicated that he dismissed her snarky comments.  

She, in turn, would roll her eyes and return to her inspections. Or, as was the case this fine day on November 1st, would return to her frantic search up and down the assembly lines to find her little sister, Dawn.

Now Marianne, for that was her name, had the bad habit of hovering over Dawn to ensure she wasn't getting herself into trouble. An occurrence that their father happily ignored, but happened far too often in Marianne's opinion. _Don't go looking for trouble..._ she would always warn, but her baby sister always had a comeback ready. _I can't help it_! seemed to be her go-to answer.

Marianne believed her, after all Dawn didn't even have _half_  of her spunk or dauntless spirit; she just attracted mishaps much much **_much_** more. And she was guileless. And her head was always in the clouds. Clouds filled with trifles like baking, ice-skating, boys and, well, leaving the Pole. 

And, most annoying of all, she thought of life as one big game. A nice long game to annoy her sister with. Or so Marianne thought.

And Marianne enjoyed nothing more than looking for her sister and dragging her to fulfill her duties in the toy factory, making sure she never ever went out. Or so Dawn thought. 

They both had trouble communicating over the important issues, especially since Marianne's wedding. Well, not exactly her _wedding,_ but rather her wedding _day_. A wedding, in fact, that never took place. Since that day Marianne began to shut others out, including her sister. She turned to her work and duties as a Clause, especially since she would one day be expected to fill her father's snow boots- without the beard and belly of course.

Marianne wiped the sweat droplets off her brow as she stood atop the large spiral staircase leading to her father's office, looking over the entirety of the factory floor one last time before she went to ask him whether he knew where  Dawn was hiding today. In her last sweeping inspection, she caught sight of a spiky haired el munching on some stolen shortbread cookies.

She smiled at the little elf and called out to him, "Hey! Sunny up here!"  The elf jumped up in surprise and stuffed all the cookies in his mouth. With a chipmunk-like face, he still managed to smile and wave back.  Sunny was Dawn's best friend since they had first met that day after Christmas when she was introduced to the entire North Pole. If anyone knew where she was, it was he, "Have you seen Dawn? It's important." Sunny was having trouble chewing, but managed to shrug his shoulders and shake his head 'no.'

"Okay. Just let her know I'm looking for her when you see her."

"Will do," he managed to mumble. She disappeared into her father's office and he walked back to his work area, looking behind the piles of newly wrapped toys. Every time he passed a mountain of presents distant from the other elves, he whispered, "The coast is clear!" as best he could. 

Suddenly, something grabbed him from behind and pulled him into a dark spot between the mountains of toys. He was about to yell until a slim finger with long, fancifully painted nails rested on his lips. 

 "It's just me," a soft voice giggled.

Sunny was so relieved he gulped back his yell...and his ten or so cookies. The dryness of the shortbread and lack of milk made him choke momentarily, but Dawn's pats on his back helped him recover.

"Shh, they'll hear you! You okay?" she asked worried, "what did she want?"

He coughed before answering, "Fine! Just know where you are I *choke* think."

"Ugh! She's always hovering. I'm grown up now! I can take care of myself."

Still choking, he managed to acquiesce lightly before asking her how long she had been hiding. She shrugged and looked for something hidden amidst a set of toys. When he asked her what it was, she looked up with bright eyes and pushed a set of immaculately white figure skates into his lap. He looked at them puzzled as she bit her lip in an effort to contain her excitement.

He looked up at her quizzically for an explanation, only half understanding. 

"They're the newest and the bestest! Found them fresh off of the conveyer belt this morning: the Riedell 1375 Gold series," she voiced softly, taking them back and caressing them, "aren't they just the most beautiful thing you've seen?" 

"What happened to the Flair ones I made you for your birthday?" he exclaimed. That had only been six months ago!

She waved a hand dismissively, "I can't use them for my quad jumps. Duh!" Sunny face-palmed himself and stood up to go back to work, but before he could get up properly, she had already jumped up and flown away with him, running with her head tucked down stealthily so none of the other elves would see them.

Her bouncy blonde curls showed above the stacks of toys, but the elves were too engrossed in their work to notice.

Being kidnapped and dragged away so easily was not a position Sunny enjoyed finding himself in, but it _was_ one he had gotten used to. Having Dawn hold his hand however, that was something he would probably never get used to...but nonetheless he enjoyed it very much. More than he had the courage to say.  "Where are we going?" he whispered "It's almost dinnertime."

With a sly smile, Dawn turned to look at him once they reached the vestibule. She threw him his little wool coat and a set of ice skates his size from the display that reached all the way down the halls and stopped at the doors.

Once she found her leg warmers hidden under a bench, she giggled playfully: "Want to go to a party at the Elf Village tonight?" 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

 

Marianne had given up on the search for her sister. With a dramatic sigh, the exhausted young woman slumped into her father's large brown leather armchair until she fell sound asleep, almost on the verge of snoring if it weren't for the content of her dreams. 

Not a creature was stirring. Not even a mouse...

Well, maybe not a mouse, but there _were_ three tiny pixies that appeared at Marianne's side, chirping excitedly by her ear and telling her how happy they were to see her. They squeaked at the sight of her scraggly hair, rolling their eyes in exasperation. One worked to sweep the unkept flaxen strands back to the left side of her cheek, another to tussle the deep brown hair lightly and the third to brush down the frizz as best as possible.

A door by the side of the office shut, causing her to wake up in a startle. She jumped in her seat and grabbed a cartography tool from the desk, pointing the sharper end in the direction of the noise. When she rubbed her eyes, she realized it was just her father.

"Marianne my dear! I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

"Dad! No, no, it's fine," she set the tool back on the desk and put a hand to her forehead, "you didn't really scare me. I think I was just having a nightmare."

Santa removed his specs and looked at his eldest daughter with a saddened expression. "Anything I can do to cheer you up?" he asked, knowing the answer far too well by now. 

"It's fine, it'll-"

"Pass," he interrupted with a bear hug. At first she was reticent, but then relaxed in his arms. It reminded her of the hugs he used to give her and Dawn when they were children. Huge hugs where he could grab both of them in his arms with one sweep, pick them up and run around with them both. "Yes, I know dear. I simply wish that these nightmares were not so recurrent...They take away from your happiness." 

"It's fine dad. I'm happy," she promised half-heartedly, "I'm happy. Really." It was a lie everyone could discern, but she hoped repeating it enough times would convince them, and more importantly, herself, that it was true. Happiness had felt like something unreachable for longer than it had been, but that wasn't what troubled her the most. She didn't really _want_ to be happy again, not because of the feeling itself, but because of the disappointment that came afterwards.

 _Happiness is so fleeting..._ she thought to herself on more than one occasion. If she tried to look for happiness, just as her father and Dawn suggested, just as she had done less than a year ago, wouldn't the inevitable happen once more? It would end. It was sure to end. Why put yourself through such misery when you can healthily avoid it?

 Of course these were not thoughts she was willing to share with anyone, much less the King of joy. When he pulled away from the bear hug the pixies went back to fixing her hair, causing them both to chuckle. 

"For just a nap, that's some pretty bad bed head," he joked. His belly flopped lightly with his hearty laughter.

"I'm exhausted. I've looked for Dawn everywhere..."

"Have you tried the stable hay?" he offered. She only rolled her eyes and told him it was serious- her sister had been avoiding her regularly since their quiff about Dawn's obsession with leaving the Pole. "Don't worry so much," he assured her, delicately placing a strand of hair behind her ear,"you should be focused on other matters. Such as the guests arriving tomorrow and the Winter Ball next week for instance. And more importantly," he placed a kiss on her forehead, "getting some sleep. Go on. I'll ask Sunny to bring you some dinner later."

With a resigned sigh, she headed out the office door, "Thanks dad. I'll worry about...sleeping." 

"Good girl," he said as she opened the door and exited, "and getting back together with Roland," he whispered lightly, almost to himself.

She opened the door a crack once more and popped her head in, "I heard that. Not happening," she sung and shut the door firmly behind her.

As she walked back down the spiral staircase, she could hear her father call her name repeatedly and pleading her to think about it. 

“Marianne you need to carry on tradition! Santa is a man's job, and Roland is-“ 

“Was, he’s no more," she turned around to face him as he tried to catch up with her on the staircase. His mouth opened to interject but she ignored it, "and before you say that he's perfect for me-”

“Well no one’s _really_ perfect. Everyone has their one or two flaws-"

She couldn't help retain a snarky laugh. "Understatement!"

"But he _is_ a good man! The son and heir of an entire toy Empire.”

“Not as big as yours dad,” she reminded him, twirling with her arms open wide to show him the factory, just in case he had missed it. 

“…And he loves Christmas- and you of course!”

“Nooo," she frowned, unwillingly remembering details of the last day she saw that slimy eel. It was on that day that her happiness also disappeared. Unfortunately, it was also the day of their wedding.

Did I mention that already? If I did it's only because it was a pretty bad breakup. Marianne can tell you more about it.

"He loves his hair and the chance of one day becoming Santa Claus.  _Not_ in that order! Oh this looks nice,” she complimented an elf on her craftsmanship of a pair of deep purple costume wings, intricately ornate with dark edges and translucent fibers.

Santa looked at the wings with his specs and squinted. "Uhhm...make the next ones a little more colorful Lizzie," he told the elf then jogged towards Marianne. She sighed and went back to doing the wings she wanted to make. If she had to wait around for the Claus' to agree on details they would never finish by Christmas. 

The pair reached the musical toys section, still discussing Roland until their voices were drowned out by the noise from the hundreds of thousands of songs in a multitude of languages. Marianne covered her ears but stopped by one of the conveyer belts producing mass quantities of the same toy- the most popular during the holiday season around the world. She put one in her pocket and raced away from the noise as fast as her long legs could carry her.

When they walked out of that section of the factory, she stopped until her father caught his breath before holding up the miniature singing doll in front of him: it was a young woman with a silver blonde braid wearing a sparkly light blue dress and covered in crystal snowflakes.

"Hey Dad, here's an idea," she pushed the button on its back for it to sing.

_Let it goooooooo_

_Let it go!_

Marianne roared in laughter while the King groaned. “Very funny Marianne.  _Please_ , won’t you at least reconsider? I don’t know what in this Roland misunderstanding shook you up so much, but as I always say, there is no argument that cannot be sorted out calmly and rationally.”

“Is that what you said to Krampus when he locked up Aunty Plum?”

Hisses and whispers from the baking section, for that was where they found themselves now, arose at the sound of the name. A little elf dropped a batch of freshly baked cookies and a scuffle fell on itself, causing the lead chef to curse. " _Sacré bleu_!"

"Sorry!" she called out to the elves, "am I supposed to say ‘he who shall not be named’ now?”

“That was different," he argued.

"I can imagine," she conceded before walking away, "Look, you know better than me that the times are—changing. A woman Santa isn't as implausible as it was when I was younger."

"I understand that, and if anyone can accomplish this...unique change, it would be you. But _besides_ that," he paused for a moment, suddenly looking more tired and resigned than before, “back then _I_ had someone to share it all with. I don’t want you to be alone when it’s your turn to take my place.”

She took his hands in hers to reassure him, smiling confidently. “That won’t be for a long time. And besides, I have Dawn…I think. If I can find her," she looked around the kitchen just in case the little devil suddenly appeared, "Dad I promise, if I find a guy that can take my hand, look me in the eyes, and I don’t want to hit him, then I’ll consider it." He sighed in desperation. Where did she get such stubbornness from, he wondered.  "Until then, I have enough on my plate.”

“Very well then, go chase your sister to your heart’s content," he dismissed her. With a kiss on his cheek and a sure shake of his hands in hers, she parted towards the toy factory again. “Oh by the way, I may have forgotten to mention why I called you into my office—“

“Right. Was there something you wanted to tell me?” she said arching an eyebrow, indicating she didn't want to hear anymore of the Roland talk. When she turned to face him, he was already disappearing down another one of the halls.

 _Is he...running away?_ she thought.

“The mortal guests for this year's Winter Ball are, well, not only the sponsors from the toy factories-“

Marianne’s eyes widened in horror. “No...” was all she could answer, fearing what she already knew he was about to say.

“But their families as well. That’s it! Be sure to try the fruit cake Dawn made for you from scratch it’s quite delicious!” he yelled out in one breath as he tried to jog away from her despite his protruding belly.

“DAAAAAD!” 

You guessed it. Roland was one of those mortals' family members. 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Meanwhile, Sunny and Dawn returned from their ice skating trembling and laughing, their tushes wet with slush- especially Sunny’s. Dawn only fell once because she was trying to get him to pull away from the railing and they both toppled as a result. Eventually she gave up, then went on figure skating by herself and taking up the entire frozen pond, practically performing all of the Nutcracker ballet on ice as a one-woman show. 

The friends decided to warm up at Sunny's house since they were already in the Elf Village. Dawn hunched over to rub Sunny's hands with her own since his gloves had holes in them. Little did she know he was blushing uncontrollably while she prattled on about how fun the party had been and what a great workout all that skating was with her new, much heavier ice skates.

"Wow, you broke quite a sweat too! Your cheeks are all red," she commented. He yelped lightly but she didn't notice and just went on talking about the marvels of ice skating, how freeing it was, how pretty she felt when all eyes were on her... Sunny's eyes being the most attentive, which now carefully observed her hands.

_Her slim, warm, soft, caring, attentive-_

"I got it!" she suddenly yelled and let go, "I know what will warm us up."

"Coffee!" "Chocolate!" They called out simultaneously. Both laughed and walked up the little wooden stairs into Sunny's cottage as they debated which was best. 

"I need the caffeine to keep with you Dawn."

It wasn't a _complete_ lie.

"But coffee's so icky. And if we make cocoa you know what we can put on top..." she said with a wicked grin as she hung up her coat and tossed her skates in the doorway.

Sunny's eyes lit up. "Marshmallows!" 

"You bet," she giggled and rushed to his pantry to prepare the cups. Sunny disappeared into his room to change his soaked articles of clothing...so everything basically.

Once he had changed, he gave a huge hippo yawn and rubbed his belly. "Uh, Dawn. Better make mine a coffee with marshmallows."

"Eww. How about both?" 

"Hm coffee and chocolate- the inventor of the mocha should be Sainted." 

" _Sinclair_?" she asked bringing out the cups filled to the brim. He acquiesced but was unable to say anything at the sight of such gorgeous warmth before him- just to be clear, the warmth of the cocoa and mocha. Dawn's warmth was something completely different- something he wished he never had to part with.

Those thoughts were so prominent in his mind now, he was worried she may one day see through them. Or worse, see through him. See how much he loved her that he would move Heaven and Hell for her- just to be with her and be able to love her and give her everything she would want.

Then again, perhaps she _could_ read minds. Otherwise it was a very well-timed coincidence that she asked to sleepover that night until, well, she wasn't sure when.

Sunny froze and looked up from his cup. "Wh-what?"

"I just need to get away from Marianne for a while. She's so busy she'll never come to the elf village to find me. And besides there's no way she'll do anything to you if I let daddy know..." she plopped more tiny marshmallows into her half empty cup, filling it to the brim in white sugar puffs. 

Sunny blushed awkwardly and managed to agree, despite the little voices in his head telling him urgently:

_RETREAT RETREAT_

_MAYDAY MAYDAY_

_BLACK HOLE LEADING TO THE LAND OF "FRIEND-ZONE" UP AHEAD_

_NO RETURN IN SIGHT_

_I REPEAT_

_RETREAT --_

He shook his head and asked her if she was sure this was the best option.

"Don't forget she knows where I live Dawn."

"I know that. I just don't know what to do..."

"Okay okay. Just stop worrying so much-"

"Who's worrying?" she argued, "I'm as calm as a turkey on Christmas." One by one the twenty-some marshmallows disappeared from her cup and went straight to her belly. 

Sunny looked at her puzzled over his mocha. Her analogies hardly ever made sense.  _Turkey?_   "Uh...so does that mean you're..not calm? " She shot him a side eyed look. "What? I don't get it!"

"Oh come on. Look, what time of the year are the most turkeys slaughtered? Poor babies..."

"You could just say 'eaten' like everyone else. And Thanksgiving."

"No I won't because that means you're asking me to take importance away from their lives when they're just as important as we are. Exactly! Thanksgiving. And if they're alive at Christmas time, that means they made it through another year."

She sat proudly with her shoulders back and legs crossed, looking at Sunny triumphantly behind her mug. He scratched his head and debated whether to tell her or not... "You know Miss Vegetarian, the staple at a lot of Christmas dinners is turkey."

Her big blue eyes shot open and she whined, "I give up!" She poured herself more hot milk and stirred in the cocoa, plopping a couple more marshmallows in. They floated lightly on the surface just long enough before the fluff melted into the beverage. "So what do you want to do tonight?"

He sat pensively for a moment and shot a glance out the window to check if it was a clear enough night to go stargazing. It was at that moment when he looked out of his biggest window that he realized it was the size of Dawn's head. He then noticed for the first time that she was crouching in his wooden chair, and that her tucked knees reached higher than his table in the center of the room.

Sure, the hut had a tall enough ceiling for her stand, but at the slightest move during the night, she would tumble out of his bed for sure, and his sofa was not an option either. They already knew her long legs would only hang limply off of the armrests at the ends. 

Dawn caught him making a face as he turned his head in a 360 degree angle then asked what was troubling him. When he told her the 'tiny problem', she pouted and set her head atop her open hand with her elbow resting on the table while she used the other arm to reach for more marshmallows. 

"You're eating like you know the apocalypse is coming."

"Well it's not my fault I stress eat--" she was about to say something else when a  thought bubble arose as she took in his words, " _apocalypse_? That's it! Sunny you're brilliant,"she chugged the last of her chocolate and set it down loudly on the table. She rushed to the doorway and gathered her belongings, dressing up again and looking frantically for Sunny's coat. 

Puzzled, Sunny let her run about for a good minute as he calmly sipped his mocha, finally able to relax.

 _Maybe she decided it would be best to talk to Marianne and settle their differences like it was their last day on Earth?_  he thought hopefully.

His thoughts were interrupted once more as she picked him up from his chair and tossed him his coat. He almost dropped his mug trying to catch the coat but was able to balance both awkwardly. It was finally night.

She told him she would wait outside while he got ready, then rushed out of the door and waited on the front stairs. Clearly she was too engrossed in her apocalyptic plan to understand that the face he was making was of complete befuddlement.

As she waited on the doorsteps, the elves all greeted her happily when they walked past her, some coming back from their shifts at the toy factory while others went for their after dinner shift. The snow started to fall once more and cover the patches of ground where the gray river rocks were still visible. A little snowflake landed on the tip of her nose, and with a light feathery blow, she looked up to let it fly away with a giggle. When she looked up to admire the evenness of the white clouds above them, she noticed a pale glimmer coming from between the clouds.

With a little squinting she managed to discern the moon, now at its waxing gibbous phase, perfectly aligned right above the North Pole. She turned her head a moment to call out to Sunny to hurry to catch the gorgeous sight, but when she looked at that spot isn the sky again, it had disappeared between the clouds. Sunny emerged from his hut frantically trying to tie his snow boots as he hopped on one foot and looked up at the sky.

"Where is it?" he asked descending the stairs awkwardly. Did he put his shows on the wrong feet again?

"It's gone..." she said with a pouty face. "It's so close to a full moon I can almost taste it!"

"Pretty sure that's the marshmallows," he joked but then apologized quickly when she pursed her lips and shot him a side ways glance, "Kidding kidding! SO what was your plan exactly?"

She took out her beret and put her hands in her pockets. "We have to visit a section in the basement."

 

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Marianne was reticent about going down to the stables to look for Dawn lie her father had suggested. After all if there was one thing Dawn hated, it was smelly animals. 

" _Have you checked in the hay?_ " she mumbled distractedly, repeating what he had asked her. The elves all greeted Marianne while they continued to work around the stable house. Each reindeer had its own shed, complete with all-you-can-eat hay, oats, and bountiful fruit supplies replenished by the hardworking elves at all hours of the day.

The sheds were lined up next to one another in a circle, with an even larger shed containing emergency supplies and medication as well as the magic lever for the reindeer to fly. That was only used in trainings and on Christmas Eve. In the next room, where the majority of the stable-hand elves worked, was the biggest barren area of the Pole, filled with grass patches, little rivulets and even a couple wild primrose flowers. They weren't as beautiful as the rare Winter Primroses, but they were still delicious treats. For the reindeer at least.

That area was created for the reindeer in case they ever got the Winter doldrums from only being taken out to see snow and ice. Therefore, Santa had that area of the basement completely renovated so that other elves craving a less glacial experience during the day could go down there and relax. Marianne needed to relax, but instead of doing so she asked around if anyone had seen Dawn. No one could tell her where she was.

"Of course not," she mumbled between gritted teeth. She approached the exit via the stables but stopped when she spotted one of the elves...she believed Pare was his name...taking out Prancer for a walk. 

She waited for a little bit, pretending to read the nutrition charts on the side of Prancer's shed, until Pare led out the reindeer towards the green area. After him, the other elves led out the rest of the reindeer. One of the elves looked at her curiously as he took out a basket of apples, but she only whistled and pretended to frown when looking at a chart. He shrugged and was the last to exit. 

Marianne looked around carefully ensure she was the only one. When she _was_ sure, she went into one the sheds, gave a squeal of delight, and fell backwards with spread out arms and legs into a pile of hay. She put her hands behind her head and exhaled deeply, grinning wider than she had in days. 

 _Just a little nap_ , she thought, j _ust five minutes_. Her eyelids grew heavy, and within mere seconds, she was fast asleep.

 

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dawn and Sunny entered the toy factory through the bakery so they wouldn't be spotted by Marianne. A couple of the elves told her that her sister was looking for her.

"Did she say where she was? I really should find her," she lied crossing her index and middle finger behind her back. Sunny noticed but chose to admire the elves assembling the gingerbread houses instead.

"I think I heard her say she was going to the stables Miss Dawn."

"Thanks! Oh and make sure the egg whites make nice peaks as you whip them," she advised. The elf nodded. Dawn grabbed Sunny by the coat collar and dragged him towards the other way. They would have to make a detour so as not to see her sister at the stable.

They passed the new Land of the Sweets, which was taken over by Santa since the Sugar Plum Fairy's imprisonment, then descended sugar coated hills and walked through some valleys filled with immense and oddly shaped colorful candies until they reached the entrance to the basement. 

Sunny had never been in the basement before since his duties lied in Santa's office and the toy factory plant, therefore he imagined the basement to be like any regular basement: used for storage. While the North Pole basement _is_ used for storage, the quantity of things needed to be stored was a detail that escaped him. 

A signpost that said "Basement" in cursive white painted letters led them to an archway separating the brightly lit fields from the Land of Sweets and the dark warehouse. Sunny gulped and hid behind Dawn's dress and long overcoat, hugging her tightly in fear though she walked determinedly with a wide smile on her face, looking at the signposts next to every aisle in the warehouse. It didn't matter how confident she was, he was still scared silly of such a dark place...especially since he had no idea what was going on.

Right as he mustered the courage to ask, she ran up to one of the aisles and stood triumphantly before it. "Eureka! I'm a genius," she said taking a flashlight from one of the boxes and running into the aisle. Sunny backed up a couple steps to look at the sign post above him: "Survivalism." They were in the survivalist section. 

He still didn't get it but rather after her nonetheless.  

“Ew no wonder I never come here. This is the stuff Marianne drools over when she heads South for those camping trips,” she said poking around at the fishing rods.

“Uh what are we doing here again?”  

“We’re going to make s’mores with the barbecue,” she said opening one dramatically.  

“Why couldn’t we do that over the fireplace?”

“It’s a joke dummy. We’re getting an inflatable bed,” she said tapping at a box with one of the mattresses she was looking for.

Sunny laughed thinking it was another joke, but Dawn only looked at at him blankly. “Haha-er- wasn’t that a joke too?”

She sighed, “No Sunny how else do you want me to sleep? On the roof maybe?”

“Hate to burst your bubble, but an inflatable bed is never going to fit in my cottage.”

She sat on the floor of the aisle, clearly exhausted after such a long day of running around aimlessly. “I give up," she said taking her beret off to let her bouncy curls flow, "So what do you suggest we do?” 

“Hm well I see three options," he aid making a sweeping motion before his eyes as if they were on display,"One, you tell your sister the truth about your practicing and convince her to  quit hovering and take your dreams seriosuly.”

She forced a laugh, “Pah! yeah right, as if that’s going to work.”

“Two, you help me throw out my beautiful hand carved, antique furniture into the snow to make room for your one night bed.”

“I hate it when you make me feel guilty…”

“Or three: you try out one of these,” he ran back the way he had come. Dawn followed him with the flashlight to see him move the ladder nearby in order to pull out a couple of large sacks from one of the shelves. He looked over them then pulled out some and to let them fall like cannonballs. She ducked so they wouldn't hit her then set the flashlight down to inspect them. When she opened it, her eyes grew from curiosity to confusion.  

“A..a caterpillar costume? That’s your big idea?” she called out to him in a whimper and massaged her temples. He just laughed, “Sunny I have a really big predicament right now and turning me into a butterfly isn’t going to help anything. Wait, no no. This could work. If I turn into a butterfly I could fly away  from here and go train in Canada… or Russia… or Japan…or-“

“Ahem," he interrupted jumping from the ladder, "you’ll have to take up that wish with the Sugar Plum Fairy. This, on the other hand, is the bona fide solution to your most urgent wish: a sleepover to get away from Marianne, remember? This little baby,” he said unrolling a sleeping bag his size and wiggling inside it, "is all you need.”

Dawn eyed it inquisitively for a moment before Sunny motioned at her to zip it over his head once he was far enough inside. “That doesn’t look too comfortable…”

“Don’t knock it till you try it kiddo!”

She cast an eye at the unopened sleeping bags, then simply shrugged her shoulders and got inside one as well, closing it fully over her head. “Ohhhh this IS nice!”

“Told you so.”

They closed the sleeping bags over their heads from the inside and tried talking to each other in muffled tones, both laughing uncontrollably as they shimmied their way towards each other like blinded caterpillars.

“Can you see anything?”

Sunny laughed, “No! You? Ow that’s my head!”

“Ow sorry! No,” she giggles, “I’ll race you to the edge of the aisle!”

“You’re on! Ready, set-“

“GO!”

They wiggled their way down the aisle quicker than they had anticipated, then reached the hall separating it from the rest of the gift aisles in the warehouse. Because they hadn’t hit anything yet, they continued on the straight path, convinced that once they did hit something it would be the end of the aisle and someone would win the race.

So focused on making it to the finish line...whatever that was, they continued wiggling in their sleeping bags like blinded worms until they arrived at the end of the warehouse area of the basement and were fast approaching the next part of the factory:  the reindeer park beside the stables.

“Sunny do you remember the aisle being this long?”

“What?”he said wiggling faster. _  
_

“I said do you remember-“ Dawn was unable to finish her sentence when she suddenly heard shrill elven cries come from all around her. 

The reindeer whinnied nervously and chuffed up and down at the sight of the strange beings appearing from the darkness and approaching them at an alarming rate. The elves tried to take the reins of some of the reindeer but were terrified at the sight of such unnatural beings. Many called out an evacuation for fear that Krampus had sent henchmen to the North Pole to wreak havoc once more, but Dawn and Sunny, unable to hear what was being said, kept wiggling towards them. The elves tried to get a hold on the distressed reindeer but they thrashed with all their might to escape. The animals ran about the fields wildly, jumping and raising themselves on two hooves in terror. 

Sunny fell into one of the rivulets and flailed about nervously, finally understanding where they were. When he called out to Dawn, she didn't answer. All he could hear were yells of panic and cries of despair from the elves and reindeer alike.

Sunny had caught his hair in the zipper and was unable to get it open, while Dawn was too flustered to think of getting out. In her confusion over what was going on, she wiggled towards the right and away from Sunny, heading straight towards the charging reindeer. 

After a couple of seconds floundering and not hearing her best friend answer her when she called out for him, she tried to reach for the zipper on her sleeping bag to get out. At the same moment she stopped to look for it, one of the reindeer was heading straight towards her in a blind frenzy.

Dawn managed to open her sleeping bag right as the animal shot his front legs up to trample her, but by then her cry for help and rolling into a ball to protect herself would be no match for it.

Luckily for her, Marianne was able to shake off her slumber in time to stumble to the hay fields with half open eyes and see what was happening. She ran down from the stables in confusion until she saw the two friends in the sleeping bags. Before she was able to mutter a curse under her breath that would have made her father very angry, she caught sight of Blitzen escaping from a stable elf’s hold on him and running straight towards where one of the bags seemed to be headed. If the owner of the bag hadn’t stopped, the two may not have collided.

But it did stop, and Dawn crawled out of it. 

Marianne yelled Dawn’s name and sprinted towards the reindeer. She was able to distract it with her arms open before it and act as a barrier to protect Dawn. The reindeer halted suddenly when it saw Marianne and its nerves began to settle down. Her poignant amber eyes and calming calls for it to stop mesmerized the reindeer and placed it in a trance. She let it whinny a little until it was finally calm enough to approach and caress back into normality. 

Dawn uncurled herself from her ball formation to see her sister standing before her with crossed arms and legs defiantly open before her. She was furious, and her scowl was the proof of that, but the it turned to worry.

“Where’s Sunny?”

The elves appeared from their hiding spots one by one from their hiding spots. Some were hidden behind rocks and others were huddled in bushes together. Before they could understand what had happened, they saw that all of the reindeer were charging towards Sunny, who was flailing in the rivulet because he couldn't get his bag to open. Marianne mounted Blitzen, who was the only calm one of the lot, and led him speedily down the rivulet. 

She held on to him with her legs with all her might, leaning slowly towards the right as they approached Sunny. The reindeer swiftly galloped towards the object they thought to be one of the  henchmen from the Underworld, but right before they could reach their target, Marianne swooped down to grab the drenched bag with elf hair popping out of one of the openings. 

When Marianne managed to open that bag in the stables, unfortunately after cutting some of Sunny’s pointy hair, she found herself face to face with a shivering little elf. An embarrassed Dawn followed them, also trembling but not out of cold. Out of fear. Marianne faced her once she passed Sunny some clothes leftover for the stable hands, and while he changed she was able to scold her.

“What am I going to do with you?” she yelled “You could have gotten killed! You could have gotten Sunny killed—“

“I’m sorry!” she wailed, water forming in her eyes, “but it’s not like I planned it.”

“Maybe not but you act like you have no idea what’s going around you! You have to get your head out of the clouds. Or we’ll all end up paying for it. Don’t you get that Dawn?” she said shaking her desperately to get her to listen. 

Unfortunately the shaking method only caused the tears to rush down faster. “I’M,” she sniffed loudly and used her long, immaculately light blue sleeve to wipe her runny nose, “I’M SORRY SIS…” she threw herself in Marianne’s arms, bawling loudly. “I can’t help it…These things just sort of…happen.”

Marianne caught her and rubbed her head, trying as best as she could not to damage the curls Dawn was so attentive of. 

She patted her sister’s back slowly, humming softly to get her to calm down. “It’s okay, it’s okay…You’re safe now.”

Sunny interrupted the touching moment when he walked bak into the room fidgeting in discomfort over his new clothes. The sisters giggled as he struggled to fold the bottoms of his pants.

“That _totally_ doesn’t suit you.” said Dawn drying her tears. 

Marianne stared at her in disbelief. “That’s how you react to a near death experience? Worrying about his fashion sense?”

“What? 

Sunny humphed but took advantage of Marianne’s more cheery disposition now. “So…does this mean we’re not in trouble?” 

She sighed, “We’re so close to the Winter Ball, dad would kill me if he found out I banned one of his head helpers from working.” 

He brushed the back of his hand over his forehead in relief, but Dawn just squeezed her hands together and bit her bottom lip, widening her immense blue eyes to urge her to continue. “And?” 

Marianne held her sister’s shoulders and gave her a dark, mischievous smile. “And _you_. Are. Grounded.”


End file.
